Auditions for new Youth Circus Touring Show

ARTFARM and Oddfellows Playhouse, two Middletown-based theater companies, each with a long history of circus performance and training, are teaming up this fall to create a brand new youth circus company, Circophony.

Circophony, which is open to performers ages twelve to twenty, will provide participants with rigorous training in circus skills, acrobatics, strength, flexibility, and both ensemble and individual performance skills. The Company will work toward the January premiere of a new circus performance which will then be available for touring performances through July.

Auditions for Circophony are Wednesday, September 19, 6:30 – 8:30 pm or Friday, September 21, 4 – 6 pm. Auditions will be held at Oddfellows Playhouse, 128 Washington Street. Prior circus experience is not required, but a background in dance, gymnastics, theater, cheerleading, parkour or serious physical activity is helpful. Circus performance requires physical strength and stamina, the ability to work well with others, discipline, commitment, focus, courage and a free spirit.

Circophony is directed by ARTFARM Executive Director Dic Wheeler, who brings a thirty year history of circus performing, directing and teaching to the company. The creator and director of ARTFARM’s Circus for a Fragile Planet, Wheeler also founded the Children’s Circus of Middletown, a nationally-recognized summer program about to celebrate its 25^th season.  Trainer & choreographer for the Company will be ARTFARM’s lead circus trainer Allison McDermott, who is a member of the ProTrack program at the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, Vermont.

“Dic has the ability to bring amazing things out of young people through circus, allowing them to discover talents they never knew they had and master skills which at first seemed impossible”, says ARTFARM Artistic Director Marcella Trowbridge. “He is the person who brought circus to central Connecticut and has continued to be a national leader in youth circus through his involvement with the American Youth Circus Organization. This is going to be one impressive circus company!”

Rehearsals for Circophony will be Monday and Wednesday evenings, 6:15 – 8:45. The company will present a preview performance at Middnight on Main in Middletown December 31, and then premiere the full show on January 18 & 19. The six months of touring will take the company to schools, festivals, special events and theaters, including the Ivoryton Playhouse and Katherine Hepburn Theater.

Tuition for the program is $250, which includes the thirty plus rehearsals and ongoing training and the tour. Some financial aid is available.  

Young people wishing to audition for the company should contact ARTFARM to register for one of the two audition dates. Call (860) 346-4390 or email info@art-farm.org. Once registered, auditioners are expected to arrive on time and plan on staying for the entire two hours. Prepare a one minute solo showcasing your best skills, dress to move, and be prepared to dance, improvise, work hard, play nicely with others and have fun.